GAME Group closes 277 stores

The initial casualty list for the GAME Group's administration has been released, with a grand total of 277 stores - largely Gamestation-brand - being closed in order to raise funds to save the remaining 332.

The store closures, which come as PriceWaterhouseCoopers manage GAME Group's administration, will result in 2,104 direct job losses. These figures do not count redundancies at third-party companies who work in partnership with GAME Group, and who will find their services in far smaller demand as a result.

The store closures are effective immediately, with hastily hand-drawn signs being applied to locked doors even before the list was confirmed by industry watcher Retail Week (paid subscription required.)

It is not currently known what is to happen to the stock at the closed stores, which have been locked with all items still visible on the shelves. It's possible the stock will be shuffled to still-open stores, or sold to rivals at wholesale in an attempt to clear older titles which are unlikely to sell well at retail.

News of the closures come as GAME management post a list of trading restrictions to the company's Facebook page which makes for sober reading for anyone who has a pre-order outstanding. In the announcement, GAME's management state that refunds or exchanges outside those mandated by statutory rights will not be accepted, refunds for pre-orders will not be given, GAME Reward Card points, gift cards and GAMEwallet balances cannot be redeemed, software trade ins will only be accepted in exchange for goods rather than cash, and pre-owned hardware will not be accepted for trade-in at all.

The full list of store closures is reproduced below. As expected, Gamestation is worst hit with PWC all but sacrificing the brand in order to save GAME. With 332 stores still open, expect further closures in the near future.